Finding Nemo - The Ride Review

With my daughter just two weeks away from leaving for college, we decided to pay a visit to Disneyland last night mainly to see if we could get on the new Finding Nemo ride which replaced the old Submarine Voyage. The subs were shut down several years ago and they finally "reimagined" the Nemo ride which opened in May.


Lines have been ridiculously long for this ride since it opened, and last night when we got in line that wait was estimated at 100 minutes. It actually took 90, but since we got in just as the sun set, we didn't have to wait in the blazing heat like thousands did earlier in the day. In a small world moment, the young family of three in front of us turned out to include a graduate of the same high school my wife attended in Santa Paula.

We made our way through the various queues and finally got on board. They use the same submarines as before, now with vivid yellow paint schemes as shown in the photo. Seating is still cheek-to-cheek and kind of cramped for a big guy like me, but it always was. The ride is quite visually stunning with the use of some type of invisible underwater screens to project the image of Nemo and friends throughout the 10 minute or so voyage. It was very well done, and certainly a complete makeover from the previous submarine ride. No more mermaids or sea monsters.

I wasn't that impressed with the Disneyland makeover of Tom Sawyer's Island into a pirate theme, but this ride surpassed expectations. It's a great ride for little kids - if you can get them to handle the long line. Nice work, Imagineers. (UPDATE: Another blogger recently rode the subs for the first time - check out Laura's post here.)

We got off the ride just in time for the fireworks show which is truly spectacular. I've seen the old show dozens and dozens of times (I saw it five nights a week when I worked there in 1975), but the current show which has been running now for a couple of years is way beyond anything they used to do. Fireworks are shot off from numerous areas, not only behind Toon Town where the big stuff goes off, but all around the Hub and the Castle. Tinkerbell doesn't just slide down the line as she used to, but actually soars up and down and back and forth during the show. That must be an interesting job.

The only problem we've found with the new show is that they have to shut down Fantasyland before the show starts and keep it closed until they inspect the area for shell fallout. The show is also finicky if the wind is blowing the wrong way. More than once we've been at the park when the fireworks were cancelled because of the winds.

If anything, it's fun to watch the show to see all the different shells they have now. They have shells that can make a smiley face, star shapes, cubes, and a variety of shapes and formations that you didn't see a few years ago. Amazing technology and chemisty involved.

At one point in the show they play a bit of music from the old Main Street Electrical Parade. I can't hear that music without tearing up a bit. Many a Friday night I sat along the parade route holding a little girl in my lap as she waved at the passing characters in that parade and the music blared. She always seemed to attract the attention of the costumed folks who would sometimes come over and shake her hand. Now that little girl is leaving home for college.

Time sure has flown.